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Thursday, May 01, 2014

IN THE COMPANY OF FRIENDS: Hidden links between Scotland’s wealthy judges & big business begin to emerge as Scottish Parliament consider proposals to create a register of judicial interests

Top judge forced to publish limited disclosures of judicial conflicts of interest.INCREASING revelations in the media of undeclared links between Scotland’s wealthy, unaccountable judges and big business, as well as undeclared earnings, secret relationships, undeclared criminal convictions and links to offshore trusts have forced top judge, the Lord President Lord Brian Gill to publish a limited amount of information on how judges recuse themselves from conflict of interests in cases being heard in Scottish Courts.

The move to disclose recusal data only came about after Lord Gill gave an undertaking on the issue to MSPs of the Scottish Parliament's Public Petitions Committee who are currently investigating proposals contained in Petition PE1458: Register of Interests for members of Scotland's judiciary. The petition calls for judges to declare all their interests in a published publicly available register of judicial interests.

An Exclusive investigation by the Sunday Herald newspaper revealed Sheriff Principal Alistair Dunlop QC who is in charge of courts in Tayside, Central & Fife, held shares in supermarket giant Tesco while hearing a case against the same company. The articles by journalist Paul Hutcheon also go on to detail significant shareholdings of Scotland’s top judge Lord Gill, who is hostile to the creation of a register of judicial interests:

A senior sheriff presided over a court hearing involving Tesco at the same time as he held shares in the multi-national supermarket giant.

Sheriff Principal Dunlop QC did not absent himself because having shares in a company that is party to a court action does not require a member of the judiciary to step down from a case.

A Holyrood committee is considering proposals that would require judges and sheriffs to publish their outside interests, including details of their finances.

Members of the judiciary, unlike other senior public servants, do not need to give any details of their external sources of income.

A self-regulating system governing the behaviour of the judiciary is in place instead, with judges and sheriffs taking an oath requiring them to "do right" by people "without fear or favour".

The Statement of Principles of Judicial Ethics, issued in 2010, also notes that judges must act impartially and recuse, or remove, themselves in the event of a conflict of interest: "Plainly it is not acceptable for a judge to adjudicate upon any matter in which he, or she, or any members of his or her family has a pecuniary interest," it states.

However, senior members of the judiciary who are board members of the Scottish Courts Service (SCS) do have to submit details of their financial interests.

The rules require disclosure of items including membership of clubs and shareholdings whose value is worth more than £25,000 or greater than 1% of the issued share capital of the company. The value of the holding does not need to be registered.

These include well-known companies such as Vodafone, Royal Bank of Scotland, G4S, Diageo, Lloyds Banking and Weir Group. He also declares shares in Tesco.

In 2009, Falkirk council licensing board was in dispute with Tesco Stores Ltd - a subsidiary of the PLC - over a premises licence in a service station.

The supermarket giant appealed in 2010 and Sheriff Principal Dunlop, who held the Tesco shares at that time, oversaw a highly technical and procedural hearing in the case.

According to a spokesman for the local authority, the Sheriff remitted it back to the council and the application was subsequently granted by the board. Dunlop is a highly respected legal figure and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing or personal gain. However, the case has again thrown a spotlight on whether the system for declaring and registering judicial financial interests is satisfactory.

Peter Cherbi, a campaigner for judicial accountability, said: "It should be necessary for judges to declare all their interests and in even greater detail than politicians do."

Moi Ali, the outgoing Judicial Complaints Reviewer in Scotland, recently wrote to a Parliament committee to express her support for a register.

"An independent judiciary underpins a civilised society. But with independence goes accountability, and a register of interests is a mechanism for enhancing accountability."

The Judicial Office for Scotland (JOS) recently introduced a register of recusals, which shows cases where judges or sheriffs have absented themselves.

There have been four recusals since March. In a criminal case, Sheriff Veal recused himself as he was "personally known" to a witness.

Lady Wise recused herself from a high court case last week as she had previously acted for a relative of the accused.

A spokesperson for the JOS confirmed the Sheriff Principal held the Tesco shares at the time of the hearing. She added: "In the case involving Tesco and Falkirk Council Licensing Board, Sheriff Principal Dunlop dealt with a procedural issue in order to seek a pragmatic solution to a procedural matter and enable the case to proceed.

"There is well established case law to guide a judge or sheriff on when they should recuse in cases where they may hold shares in a company that is party to an action. Simply being a shareholder is not sufficient to require recusal.

"The Sheriff Principal quite properly dealt with the procedural matter as he was entitled to do and did not consider it necessary to recuse himself."

A top judge and staunch opponent of a register of interests for the judiciary has shareholdings in several investment funds.

Lord Gill, who has been critical of plans to require judges to publish their financial interests, made the declaration in his capacity as a board member of a courts quango.

It can also be revealed that his predecessor as Lord President, Lord Hamilton, declared shares in dozens of companies when he was in post.

In a written submission to the Scottish Parliament's public petitions committee, Lord Gill argued that a register of interests for judges and sheriffs was unnecessary, adding that their privacy could be impacted by "aggressive media or hostile individuals".

He wrote: "The establishment of such a register therefore may have the unintended consequence of eroding public confidence in the judiciary."

The Lord President declined Parliament's invitation to elaborate on his argument in person, a snub he was within his rights to deliver as judges cannot be compelled by law to give oral evidence to Holyrood. The Lord President instead agreed to a private meeting with MSPs.

However, despite his hostility to a register, Lord Gill is required as a Scottish Court Service (SCS) board member to declare shareholdings and membership of outside bodies. Other board members include Lord Justice Clerk Lord Carloway, Sheriff Principal Dunlop, Lord Bannatyne and sheriffs Iona McDonald and Grant McCulloch.

These registers have recently been made available to the Sunday Herald. Lord Gill, the de facto leader of Scotland's judges, declared shares in Henderson UK Growth Fund, Newton International Growth Fund, Aviva Investors UK Equity Fund, Terrace Hill Group and Vestry Court Ltd.

Lord Hamilton, who was Lord President until two years ago, registered shares in 33 firms in 2011. These included Barclays, BSkyB, BP, Centrica, Nestle SA and Rio Tinto.

Also listed were shares in Statoil ASA, National Grid, HSBC bank and Edinburgh Dragon Trust.

The declarations have raised the question of why, if Lord Gill and other senior colleagues can register financial interests as SCS board members, all judges and sheriffs cannot do the same.

However, in a letter to the Committee, Lord Gill said the SCS entries were an "entirely different" matter. "The requirement of those judicial office holders who are members of the SCS to register their interests arises in the context of their membership of a public body," he said. "The disclosure of their interests arises from their work as board members, which may involve the placing of contracts and employment questions. It is not related to their holding judicial office."

Chic Brodie, an SNP MSP, said: "This shows there is no consistency. There should be a consistent set of rules across the judiciary."

A spokesperson for the Judicial Office for Scotland declined to comment beyond Lord Gill's letter.

The Sunday Mail newspaper also reported on the UK legal first where recusals of judges are now published:

BENCHED: Judges reveal conflicts of interest

by Mark Aitken Sunday Mail 27 April 2014

Scotland's judges are coming clean when they have to step away from court cases because of a conflict of interests.

Scotland’s top judge has decided that for the first time the public can see online why judges and sheriffs have stood down from hearing criminal trials and civil actions.

It comes after the Sunday Mail told of MSPs' anger that the Lord President Lord Gill had dismissed calls for a judicial register of interests and snubbed invitations to discuss his position at a Holyrood committee.

The judiciary of Scotland's website lists four cases in the past month where a sheriff has decided not to hear a case. Reasons include a sheriff being known to a witness and a sheriff having previously represented a client in a civil case. The disclosure by Lord Gill, Scotland's most senior judge, follows his block on a judicial register of interests.

But campaigners say judges should reveal business, professional and financial links and do not believe the latest move goes far enough.

Peter Cherbi has called for a judicial register of interests, which could disclose hospitality, gifts and property, as well as personal or financial links to outside bodies.

He said: "The judiciary have the power to change public life, change the law or even throw out legislation passed by elected representatives. "Any group with such power can't be seen to exempt itself from the public's expectation of similar levels of transparency and accountability which apply to other branches of government and public life."

SNP MSP John Wilson said that until there was a full declarable register for judges, there would be doubts about "the interests that judges may be putting before the legal arguments".

Lord Gill has rejected calls for a register as he fears judges may be harassed by the media and has refused to attend Holyrood's public petitions committee

Previous articles on the lack of transparency within Scotland’s judiciary, investigations by Diary of Injustice including reports from the Sunday Herald and Sunday Mail newspapers, and video footage of debates at the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee can be found here : A Register of Interests for Scotland's Judiciary

Very interesting in the Sunday Herald about what Lord Gill has by way of investments.I read back through some of your articles to find Lord Gill's letters to the msps and at no time does he tell them he has all these investments and probably a whole bunch of other interests he does not want to talk about in public.As far as I can see Gill has no credibility left and same goes for the rest of the judges who failed to speak out on what Gill has been doing about your petition.

Wonder how many houses and land these judges and their families own?It'll be more than anyone else I reckon probably in lots of names to avoid tax and anyone finding out what they have.Get it all exposed!

The massive elephant in the room that nobody seems willing to talk about is that Scottish Judges' word was accepted as sufficient proof that they were fair and impartial and had characters above reproach?

What has changed is that it is Scottish Judges themselves who have gone on an obcene, mad grab for cash by trying to multiply their exorbitant salary by involving themselves with a wide variety of businesses and individuals in their pursuit of greed?

If a Scottish Judge recuses himself because of a business link, then surely the Scottish Judge is responsible for buying shares etc and has brought his Office into disrepute?

In such circumstances the Scottish Judge should be sacked-on-the-spot for creating the need for the recusal (and all of the costs this creates for the Tax-Payer)?

The problem is that Scottish Judges have made themselves almost impossible to be considered fair and impartial because of the obscenity of their multiple association with business?

Whom ever has allowed this situation to exist should also be sacked-on-the-spot for failing the Tax-Payer?

This is a problem of the Scottish Judges own making and they will all have to declare these vested interests so that we can see how corrupt and widespread this corruption has become?

After all, the reason they are paid obscenely high salaries in the first place is because they cannot wheel and deal and pursue personal enrichment because to do so is to confirm that they are not fit to be a Scottish Judge?

I like your headline but I am left wondering if when these judges are together they will be as suspicious of each other as they are of us.

Every single judge has something to lose if this register of yours becomes law and this is why not one single judge has spoken out against Gill.

This has not happened anywhere else as usually one of them comes forward even in secret to inform on the others but here not.

Even when the scandal of MPs expenses broke the press got tips from some of the MPs who told on each other but not when it comes to the judges.All have remained silent like a criminal gang.

The judges have far too much to hide and cannot be trusted until it is all out in the open and even then this policy of Lord Gill to accuse everyone in an effort to stop the petition will not be forgotten.

"The judiciary have the power to change public life, change the law or even throw out legislation passed by elected representatives. "Any group with such power can't be seen to exempt itself from the public's expectation of similar levels of transparency and accountability which apply to other branches of government and public life.==================================So true Peter they must be held to account whether they like it or not.

More like in the company of companies and you are bang on about ethical investments!

Look.There is an important issue going on here about judges and investments.They dont want us to talk about it or msps to legislation BUT the thing is if judges are allowed to invest in firms like these who are ripping off taxpayers they cannot be seen to be fair in any way at all.

We need a new system of selecting judges and policing them.They can keep their judicial independence but not their independence from accountability to the rest of us.

Scottish Judges are paid their huge wages (even higher than Judges in England) so that they do not need to speculate to enrich themselves further by buying Stocks and Shares, as the very act of doing so would mean that they would be multiplying and exacerbating the likelihood of them having to recuse themselves because of Conflict of Interest?

However, because Scottish Judges are a law unto themselves, they have thought to themselves, we can make a killing here because nobody in Scotland will stick their neb into our affairs, so we might as well slurp up the rich gravy and if they do we shall just cry foul and lay it on thick about Judicial Independence to get them to butt-out if they know what is good for them?

THE Government’s Serious and Organised Crime Taskforce have a strategy of “divert, deter, disrupt and detect” and draw together the private sector, local authorities and police.

Another weapon in the fight against organised crime is proceeds of crime legislation.

Prosecutors revealed last week that £8.2million of dirty money had been seized from criminals last year.

Although the figure was £4million down on the 2012 total, more people were hit with criminal confiscation orders.

There was also a rise in the number of people forced to prove they were earning their cash legally. Solicitor General Lesley Thomson QC, said: “Those who attempt to build up criminal business are finding that we can wreck their ventures by ending their funding streams and their hopes of living off the profits of their crimes.”

Businesswoman Kwai Fun Li, 46, of Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, was ordered to surrender more than £700,000 in cash and assets.

She was initially fined £6000 for employing illegal immigrants in her restaurants between December 2009 and May 2010.

But she was forced to hand over the six-figure sum after failing to account for how she funded her lavish lifestyle.==================================And yet we don't know if those who sit over court proceedings are involved in crime as the judiciaries convictions are kept quiet. Another example of the law being applied politically.

The law of Delict Lord Gill where causal links are needed in order for damages to be awarded and no doubt Judges, Sheriffs, lesser lawyers, expert witnesses and others have financial interests in the insurance company being sued and this is why justice is a business to the judiciary, and torture for the genuinely injured.

Clearly DOI are right when they tell people there is no point in using lawyers or the courts. Like Parliaments the Courts and Judiciary are bought and paid for by your factions business connections. Civil law cases never go the clients way because it is all engineered to look pukka when the reality is that it is a stitch up start to finish. Don't use the courts folks, you cannot win your case and of course there is no complaints system either. They have devised the perfect system for their own financial enrichment by using the public and dropping them before the court date. Bee there, and I know what I am talking about.

There is a Sheriff who lives at the end of our street in a detached house.He spends his time terrorising his neighbours who wanted to build a porch and garage to their house.He stopped it going ahead and is now trying to hound them out of their home with the intention he gets the property on the cheap.Now his plan has hit a wall after someone told his neighbours about this blog and the fact their solicitors also work for him.Local newspaper took the story and then did nothing because of the sheriff and who he is.Expect some comments from Fife about a corrupt sheriff!

Gill's view of Judicial Independence is that he wants everyone outside the conflict of interest sphere to stop asking questions and fighting for reform. The legal profession are now suffering the reaction from their countless victims. Easy for them to stop civil cases where the client has a case because it would punish the judges financially, it is a corrupt system as lawyers reading this blog know and never deny.

There is a Sheriff who lives at the end of our street in a detached house.He spends his time terrorising his neighbours who wanted to build a porch and garage to their house.He stopped it going ahead and is now trying to hound them out of their home with the intention he gets the property on the cheap.Now his plan has hit a wall after someone told his neighbours about this blog and the fact their solicitors also work for him.Local newspaper took the story and then did nothing because of the sheriff and who he is.Expect some comments from Fife about a corrupt sheriff!

5 May 2014 11:52

No doubt the sheriff will be able to rely on the local lawyers sucking up for favours and the corrupt clerks in the local courts to make sure the neighbour is turfed out of their own home or made bankrupt and Mr or Mrs sheriff ends up with titles to their neighbour's property.

Anonymous said...How can a judge be impartial if they hold shares in the company involved in a case before them?

This is madness.The judges have come up with their own rules and convinced everyone to believe this is normal.It is not normal and not acceptable.

As for no report from the BBC well they must have their own vested interest in keeping this out of the news and we all know what that is.

3 May 2014 13:31--------------------------

This just goes to show just how far removed from the moral standard our Scottish Judges have gone to and is a perfect illustration of what happens when you give a set of people the power to do what they like, knowing that no one will be checking up on them?

Making hay while the sun shines......and making hay when it rains and snows too?

THE Government’s Serious and Organised Crime Taskforce have a strategy of “divert, deter, disrupt and detect” and draw together the private sector, local authorities and police.

Another weapon in the fight against organised crime is proceeds of crime legislation.

Prosecutors revealed last week that £8.2million of dirty money had been seized from criminals last year.

Although the figure was £4million down on the 2012 total, more people were hit with criminal confiscation orders.

There was also a rise in the number of people forced to prove they were earning their cash legally. Solicitor General Lesley Thomson QC, said: “Those who attempt to build up criminal business are finding that we can wreck their ventures by ending their funding streams and their hopes of living off the profits of their crimes.”

Businesswoman Kwai Fun Li, 46, of Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, was ordered to surrender more than £700,000 in cash and assets.

She was initially fined £6000 for employing illegal immigrants in her restaurants between December 2009 and May 2010.

But she was forced to hand over the six-figure sum after failing to account for how she funded her lavish lifestyle.==================================And yet we don't know if those who sit over court proceedings are involved in crime as the judiciaries convictions are kept quiet. Another example of the law being applied politically.

5 May 2014 07:30~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is just propaganda!

Like the Mafia putting all of the opposition out of business, so that they have a monopoly over the rich-pickings and the say over who lives and who dies, who goes to prison and who gets let off Scot-Free?

Scotland's judges are coming clean when they have to step away from court cases because of a conflict of interests.

Scotland’s top judge has decided that for the first time the public can see online why judges and sheriffs have stood down from hearing criminal trials and civil actions. WHO GAVE HIM THIS POWER, WHY DOES HE HAVE IT, IN WHOSE INTERESTS IT IS USED, HOW CAN WE ESTABLISH IF JUDGES ARE CORRUPT AND HOW CAN WE GET RID OF THEM AND PROSECUTE THEM.

THESE PEOPLE HAVE LIMITLESS POWER AND THAT IS AN ANACHRONISTIC CORRUPT ARRANGEMENT.

Dont worry about lack of BBC on this story because they have their own agenda and we see it every day on their news - nothing about Scotland just about everywhere else on the planet except us.The best thing maybe happen is the Scottish Gov pull the bbc plug and give us television who tell us about our news and things we want to know like this instead of all their diversion rubbish.

Anonymous said...Scotland's judges are coming clean when they have to step away from court cases because of a conflict of interests.

Scotland’s top judge has decided that for the first time the public can see online why judges and sheriffs have stood down from hearing criminal trials and civil actions. WHO GAVE HIM THIS POWER, WHY DOES HE HAVE IT, IN WHOSE INTERESTS IT IS USED, HOW CAN WE ESTABLISH IF JUDGES ARE CORRUPT AND HOW CAN WE GET RID OF THEM AND PROSECUTE THEM.

THESE PEOPLE HAVE LIMITLESS POWER AND THAT IS AN ANACHRONISTIC CORRUPT ARRANGEMENT.

6 May 2014 08:46/)/(/)/)/)//(/?/)/)/)/)/)/)/)/)/)/

If we are to believe the 'line', that there is no system in place to monitor and control whether or not Scottish Judges & Sheriffs are recusing themselves, other than their 'Word' means that Scotland does not have a Justice System worthy of the name and that this admission by NONO is evidence of a dereliction of duty at best and at worse a flagrant disregard of the morals required to act as a Judge?

If no system has been in place to be able to guarantee probity, then the whole Scottish Justice System is synonymous with the worst example of a Banana Republic?

Logic dictates that there must be a corresponding mistrust in Judicial Decisions brought about by Scottish Judges & Sheriffs themselves to the extent that it would be of no surprise if cases past and present were appealed on the basis that the result of the cases cannot be relied upon?

This is the damage the Scottish Judiciary have caused to our Judicial System, which is now considered to be as low as a snakes belly?

Anonymous said...Dont worry about lack of BBC on this story because they have their own agenda and we see it every day on their news - nothing about Scotland just about everywhere else on the planet except us.The best thing maybe happen is the Scottish Gov pull the bbc plug and give us television who tell us about our news and things we want to know like this instead of all their diversion rubbish.

8 May 2014 11:16:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;::;:;:;:;:

Scottish State BBC News is heavily censored by the Law Society of Scotland to misguide the general population into believing that everything is fine and dandy?

Ask yourself, when was the last time the BBC reported on the many crooked Scottish lawyers or the criminal behaviour perpetrated by the Law Society of Scotland and it's twins the SSDT and SLCC or indeed to report on the Scandal going on with the Scottish Judiciary?

Then when you dig a little deeper you find out that the head of BBC legal is a Law Society of Scotland stooge?

and what about these bent confidentiality agreements to stop nhs whistleblowers what is going to happen to these - they should be all opened up to full scrutiny and stuff the gagging clauses probably enforced by crooked judges

ALL compromise agreements, or "gagging clauses", negotiated by health boards will have to be approved by the Scottish Government before being signed under new regulations.

A total of 697 such documents were signed in the past five years and accountability campaigners welcomed the move by ministers as helping to remove the culture of fear surrounding them.

The move follows the furious row over gagging clauses in severance agreements between health boards and workers about to leave employment, often after a dispute. Health boards have denied misusing the agreements.

The issue came to a head earlier this year when The Herald revealed that a whistleblowing doctor, Dr Jane Hamilton, was risking a six-figure settlement and possibly the sack by speaking of her refusal to accept a confidentiality clause.

Health Secretary Alex Neil had previously warned health boards against such gags and in February declared he was removing confidentiality clauses from settlements with NHS staff.

He said there was a perception they "could be used to prevent staff from speaking out about failures in care offered to patients".

But The Herald has learned he has gone further and has ordered that all compromise agreements be subject to government scrutiny.

He said: "For far too long health boards have been acting like feudal barons; beyond the pale and accountable to no-one.

"I had a confidentiality clause arbitrarily slapped on me by NHS Ayrshire and Arran when there was no need whatsoever to do so - it was a crude attempt to effectively gag me, and my union, Unison, played along with it."

Dr Hamilton, a nationally recognised psychiatric specialist, had raised concerns about the mother and baby unit (MBU) at St John's Hospital, Livingston, and warned in writing that somebody could die.

Two mothers subsequently took their lives and the family of one is suing the health board.

Dr Hamilton had raised these concerns as "protected disclosures" which were supposed to come with safeguards for whistleblowers against victimisation. However, in the compromise agreement offered to her by NHS Lothian, they were classed as "grievances" and included in a confidentiality clause. It would have meant she could never publicly mention them again.

Her legal advice was that she was effectively being gagged. NHS Lothian consistently denied this, but subsequently removed the clause.

Police are investigating the case of Dr Hamilton after it was reported by Mr Wilson. It is a crime to prevent staff from raising concerns about patient safety or malpractice.

Dr Hamilton said yesterday she welcomed this further tightening-up and scrutiny of the use of compromise agreements "which have up to now clearly been frequently used to buy off and silence staff".

She campaigns in Scotland on behalf of Patients First, the body set up by the whistleblower Dr Kim Holt, who was victimised but ultimately vindicated in 2007 in the Baby P scandal in London.

It is calling for a fully independent watchdog with investigatory and disciplinary powers to protect and encourage staff and ensure quality care for patients.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We are putting in place new arrangements for the notification and approval of settlement agreements in the current financial year.

"We are currently considering consultation responses and will set out the new process in due course."

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Exclusive Report: SCOTLAND’S top judge, the Lord President Lord Brian Gill has been forced to stand aside from hearing an unidentified case in the Court of Session because a relative who turned out to be Brian Gill jr, one of Lord Gill’s sons, represented a party involved in the court action which court officials are keeping secret.

Judge invests in bribes scandal companies

Exclusive Report: An investigation by the Scottish Sun on Sunday newspaper has revealed a top judge holds shares in a firm hit with a £13.9million proceeds-of-crime bill for bribing Saddam Hussein's regime,The Scottish Sun on Sunday can reveal. Sheriff Principal Alastair Dunlop 62, has a stake in Glasgow based Weir Group, hammered in 2011 for paying kickbacks to land contracts in Iraq. He also has shares in mining giant Rio Tinto, whose executives admitted bribery in China four years ago. A Holyrood committee is considering proposals that would require judges and sheriffs to publish their outside interests, including details of their finances, reported here: A Register of Interests for Scotland's Judiciary

Judges reveal conflicts of interest

Exclusive Report: The Sunday Mail newspaper reports Scotland's judges are coming clean when they have to step away from court cases because of a conflict of interests. Scotland’s top judge has decided that for the first time the public can see online why judges and sheriffs have stood down from hearing criminal trials and civil actions. It comes after the Sunday Mail told of MSPs' anger that the Lord President Lord Gill had dismissed calls for a judicial register of interests and snubbed invitations to discuss his position at a Holyrood committee, reported in previous coverage here: A Register of Interests for Scotland's Judiciary

Judges interests & shareholdings revealed

Exclusive Report: An investigation by the Sunday Herald newspaper reveals a senior sheriff presided over a court hearing involving Tesco at the same time as he held shares in the multi-national supermarket giant. Sheriff Principal Dunlop QC did not absent himself because having shares in a company that is party to a court action does not require a member of the judiciary to step down from a case. A Holyrood committee is considering proposals that would require judges and sheriffs to publish their outside interests, including details of their finances, reported in previous coverage here: A Register of Interests for Scotland's Judiciary

Top judge in private meeting on judicial transparency petition

Media Report: Top judge Lord Gill met petitions committee members behind closed doors to discuss Petition PE1458: Register of Interests for members of Scotland's judiciary and conflict of interests, but no minutes were taken. The Sunday Mail reports Scotland’s top judge met two MSPs in private after twice snubbing requests to give evidence in front of their committee. The judge is opposed to the transparency call and has previously refused invitations to attend the Scottish Parliament and face questions in public on his opposition to judicial transparency and the creation of a register of judicial interests. More on the debate on judge’s interests can be viewed here : A Register of Interests for Scotland's Judiciary

Small concession offered by top judge as calls grow for judicial transparency

Judges should not be above scrutiny

Media Editorial: The Sunday Herald newspaper says in an editorial Judges should not be above scrutiny. The Lord President, who is the country's top judge, is against requiring his colleagues to list their financial interests (as called for in Petition PE1458: Register of Interests for members of Scotland's judiciary) but he seems to have recognised political concerns about a lack of transparency.To this end, he is investigating the possibility of compiling a register of "recusals", which means examples of judges ceasing an interest in a court case due to a perceived conflict. More on the debate on judge’s interests can be viewed here : A Register of Interests for Scotland's Judiciary

Scotland’s top judge takes anti-transparency position on proposal for judicial interests register

Lack of judicial transparency - No justice if it cannot be seen

Media Editorial: The Sunday Mail newspaper says Senior judge's refusal to give evidence to MSPs shows a lack of transparency, says Mail Opinion on calls for judicial transparency in Petition PE1458: Register of Interests for members of Scotland's judiciary. It was an opportunity for Scotland’s top judge to go to Parliament and talk about how our legal system works and might work better. It would have added, as the public relations executives and politicians like to say, a little transparency. Instead, his refusal has only hardened the suspicion that our judges live and work in a bubble smelling of horse hair wigs, vintage port and even more vintage attitudes. More on the debate on judge’s interests can be viewed here : A Register of Interests for Scotland's Judiciary

NEWS SPECIAL: Coverage of the Annual Report 2012-2013 of Scotland’s Judicial Complaints Reviewer reveals Scottish judges are slammed for secrecy, anti-transparency views & how they investigate complaints against other judges.Moi Ali, appointed by the SNP’s Justice Secretary as Scotland’s first Judicial Complaints Reviewersaid: “I think fundamentally the problem is the legislation. “The way it’s created, it’s about self- regulation so you have judges judging judges’ conduct. There isn’t really an independent element.”. Read more HERE

REVEALED : Scotland’s Judicial Complaints Reviewer gave evidence to MSPs at the Scottish Parliament stating her office has no powers to properly investigate complaints against Scottish judges and that the judicial office regularly block access to files and information relating to complaints. In England & Wales, it is done very differently. Read more HERE

EXCLUSIVE REPORT: Scotland’s judiciary are refusing to cooperate with the independently appointed Judicial Complaints Reviewer over complaints made against Scottish judges. Scotland’s top judge also stands accused of regularly blocking independent access to key documents relating to allegations made against judges. Read more HERE

Scotland's top judge objects to Holyrood transparency call for a register of judicial interests

Exclusive Report : Scotland’s top judge Lord Gill claims judges are exempt from declaring their full financial & other interests as called for in Petition PE1458: Register of Interests for members of Scotland's judiciary A register could be created by the Scottish Parliament or by the Judicial Office for Scotland, which incorporates the Lord President’s office. Typically, such registers reveal details of hospitality, gifts, property ownership, shareholdings and personal or financial connections to outside organisations.

If you think Scotland's judges are honest, think again. An investigation reveals the true extent of their undeclared finances & interests. Read more HERE. Investigations have revealed Scotland's Judges have secret criminal records, massive wealth, unchecked influence, & murky investments along with connections to offshore tax havens, all of which go undeclared as there is no register of interests for the judiciary.

Business Interests: Are Scottish Judges overseas trips really just about law conferences?

Exclusive Report: Scotland's judges have racked up thousands of air miles on overseas trips, including jaunts to the US, India, Morocco and Malaysia. Taxpayers paid £83,644 to send judges and sheriffs and their partners around the world in the past three years revealed in this document. The Lord President also travels to Taiwan, South Africa & other countries yet refuses to travel 700m to the Scottish Parliament to face MSPs questions about judges’ secret undeclared interests.

Exclusive Report : A report published by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice reveals Scottish lawyers take home a lavish £161million in legal aid payments on a tiny client base compared to other EU countries’ lawyers. The EU REPORT also shows that Scotland disciplines a tiny number of lawyers compared to countries of similar size, and that Scotland’s sheriffs & judges top the EU pay league. A large proportion of alleged criminals reported to prosecutors in Scotland are also escaping justice while lawyers scoop up legal aid fees for dealing with cases which never make it to court.

EU Justice Report : Scots Justice System is most expensive, has poorest regulation in Europe

A MUST READ REPORT by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice reveals the Scottish justice system as the most unproductive, yet most expensive in the entire European Union. Scottish lawyers take tens of millions more in legal aid representing a population of 5 million than Italian lawyers who serve a population of 60 million. The report also reveals Scots judges are paid the highest in Europe, Scottish Sheriffs taking home an average taxpayer funded salary of £120K plus, while others in Scotland’s judiciary are paid £200K plus expenses.

The Scottish Civil Courts Review of 2009 authored by the then Lord Justice Clerk, now Lord President Lord Brian Gill, castigated Scotland’s Civil Justice System as being Victorian, costly, and unfit for purpose, yet years on from the review, little of the proposed reforms have been implemented due to pressure from vested interests in the legal world, and a lack of political will to deliver access to justice to all Scots.

The ‘independent’ lawyer run Scottish Legal Complaints Commission has lurched from scandal to scandal, and proved to be even worse at regulating complaints against Scottish solicitors than the Law Society of Scotland. Clients of Scottish solicitors who are forced to make complaints to the SLCC should read our previous reports on how the anti-client regulator may treat their case.

Exclusive Report: A Research Report from the University of Manchester School of Law, commissioned by the SLCC on the Law Society of Scotland’s two discredited client compensation schemes, the Master Insurance Policy & Scottish Solicitors Guarantee Fund reveals the extent of suicides, illness, broken families and financial ruin among clients who fall victim to rogue solicitors and attempt financial claims in order to recover funds & assets embezzled or stolen by their lawyers. The research report concludes the Law Society's Master Policy is set up “to allow solicitors to sleep at night”, so they can go on to ruin other unsuspecting clients. Read the full shocking story HERE

Name & Shame your crooked lawyer in the media

If you are making a complaint to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC), Law Society of Scotland or Faculty of Advocates about your solicitor or legal representatives, one of the best things you can do is tell the media about it & name your crooked lawyer.

Revealed: Suspended & Bankrupt lawyers are secretly still working in Scotland

Exclusive Report: An investigation has revealed twice suspended but still working as a solicitor John G O'Donnell has impersonated a deceased lawyer as part of an elaborate fraud, while staff at the law firm he worked at said nothing to clients. The Law Society of Scotland did nothing to prevent O’Donnell continuing his reign of scams against clients even after he was twice suspended & made bankrupt. O’Donnell was only found out after one of his clients, saw his photograph in an earlier Sunday Mail newspaper investigation..

Exclusive Report: An investigation has revealed a lawyer who works for the Citizens Advice Bureau is being probed after it’s claimed he targeted vulnerable clients for a crooked legal firm. A client involved in a rent dispute turned to CAB lawyer Gilbert Anderson, who is based at Hamilton Sheriff Court on a taxpayer funded salary. But the ex-Royal Marine sent the client and a friend into the clutches of twice suspended solicitor John G O'Donnell , who does not have a practicing certificate.

BONUS CULTURE of Crown Office fails to deliver justice

An investigation reveals Scotland’s Prosecutors have been caught up in their own BONUS CULTURE where fat cash hand-outs at the end of the year worth tens of thousands of pounds and sly Press Releases short on facts seem to be more important than catching real crooks and delivering on protecting the Scots public.

One of Scotland’s most famous Crooked Lawyers, Andrew Penman of Stormonth Darling Solicitors, Kelso in the Scottish Borders. Read the MEDIA COVERAGE of the case, details which the Law Society of Scotland and several Edinburgh law firms tried to bury.

If you have a similar experience with Stormonth Darling Solicitors, or any other corrupt law firm, we want to hear about it at scottishlawreporters@gmail.com